Fifty-seven years ago, this also was Hugh Locker, Jake's grandfather, 7 inches shorter and 15 pounds lighter than the modern-day Locker but no less competitive. He was an all-city running back and linebacker for Ballard High School.

"I wasn't as fast as my kids," said the father of four sons who all played football. "If you wanted 3 yards, I could get it."

Hugh Locker, 76, lives on 25 acres north of Ferndale, closer to Birch Bay, lording over the huge, athletic-minded family he created.

He plays no favorites, keeping tabs on six grandchildren who play varsity volleyball, varsity soccer and varsity and freshman football for Ferndale High School, another pursuing baseball at Western Arizona, a two-year college, and, of course, the quarterback prodigy in Montlake.

Don't bother calling him on a weekday or Saturday afternoon. He's seated in the stands somewhere, inside a gym or at some field, supporting the latest generation of Lockers.

"Every day except Monday there's a game," he said. "If one of them makes the JVs, that will fill Mondays. Sunday, that's a day we review."

Hugh Locker provided his active family with a sporting blueprint. In 1949 and 1950, he was a fearsome runner and defender for Ballard, unafraid to hurl his thick 5-foot-8, 195-pound frame at anyone, a household name in an era when high school football meant something to Seattle.

As a junior, Locker helped the Beavers win their first six games, shutting out five opponents, before losing the seventh and final outing, 19-0, in a winner-take-all showdown against the Lincoln Lynx before a near-capacity crowd of 12,774 at Memorial Stadium. He was named all-city fullback, even while finishing with modest numbers: 223 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Toughness counted for a lot, nearly landing a championship.

"We thought we were a very good team until we got our comeuppance," he said of the Lincoln loss.

Locker often dropped out of school to build houses with his stepfather in Eastern Washington and Idaho, and was permitted to play his senior year when he was 19. For a 4-2-1 team, he led the league in scoring with seven touchdowns, finished as the city's third-best punter with a 36.1-yard average and ranked fifth in rushing with 323 yards in 99 carries.

He rushed for three TDs and a season-best 99 yards in a 25-7 victory over Garfield. He had two scores in a 25-6 win over Queen Anne, one coming on a 35-yard interception return. This time, he was selected a two-way all-conference performer, as a halfback and linebacker.

After graduation, Locker joined the Army and then the Marines, and was shipped off to the Korean War for three years. Returning home, he enrolled at Western Washington and played two years of college football, mostly as an end. He met his wife, Barbara, while fishing summers in Friday Harbor, and left school early to start a family and work the next 37 years for Bellingham's Georgia Pacific pulp mill.

Locker raised four sons: Mike, 50, Pat, 49, John, 44, and Scott, 42. All were accomplished Ferndale running backs. Each played for Western Washington. Pat Locker, similar in size to his father, became the Vikings' all-time leading rusher with 4,049 yards, a record since broken. These siblings also provided 12 grandchildren, including a certain 6-foot-3 quarterback with NFL and Heisman Trophy possibilities written all over him.

Jake Locker, whose father is Scott, obviously picked up his height from his mother's family. Yet he undeniably has Grandpa Locker's competitiveness, a trait that showed up early on.

"Jake used to play basketball in our kitchen when he was 3," Hugh Locker recalled. "He'd have this sponge ball and stuff it. Half the time he missed the net. But he would strut away like he had dominated somebody."

The Locker boys once roamed the 25-acre property, bird hunting, working out for football and generally letting off steam. The grandchildren cut their teeth on it, too, with Jake Locker indicating he has a favorite spot, a place where he can go to unwind, though not for long.

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There's a for sale sign at the front entrance now. It's time for these Lockers to downsize, to move into town, to simplify things.

The way they figure it, they spend more time in the gym or at some football field anyway.